Riot Release League-Themed Blitzcrank's Poro Roundup

Riot Games have released Blitzcrank’s Poro Roundup, a side-scrolling, League of Legends-themed arcade minigame thingummy for browser and mobile.

The idea is you are Blitzcrank (he’s a sentient golem character from the League of Legends [official site] universe) and you must save little creatures called poros (they’re somewhere between a Tribble and a yak) from being eaten. It’s a side-scroller where you must move up and down as you run then grab the slow-moving poros to ensure they don’t gradually disappear offscreen and into the gaping maw of Baron Nashor (a gigantic beastie also from League). You can also run into them to boot them forward if you need a bit of time to organise the grabbing timings.

When you grab poros you earn coins and when you defeat the bosses at the end of each level you earn lots of coins. I just defeated Jinx (a welcome bit of catharsis given someone on a smurf account kicked the absolute stuffing out of my newbie side on real LoL last night as Jinx) and earned enough to pick up an item in the game’s store that reduced the effects of stuns and slows. You can also pick up other items and unlock and buy skins for the characters. It’s a free game rather than free-to-play by the looks of things so these purchases are made entirely with coins you’ve earned in the game.

I rather like it, not least it because it’s a) simple enough that I can pick it up immediately while under the weather this morning and b) I quite like seeing characters I know being used to tell other stories or in different arenas.

The game is part of the Riot Arcade which is basically Riot’s nod to (monetisable) nostalgia gaming:

“The Arcade lets us explore what Riot might have looked like in the early age of gaming, if the early age of gaming had a more modern design sense. Imaginary time loops aside, there’s a lot to see here. Two new Arcade skins will finally let you hit the Rift with a fully pixelated Theme Team, while you and your friends argue over which classic RPG aged the best. Show your respect for the forerunners of modern gaming with new Summoner icons, or hit the Apple Store or Google Play Store and check out Blitzcrank’s Poro Roundup, an arcade-style mini-game.”

It’s only available until 21 Sept (although I assume if you’ve downloaded it on mobile you’ll likely still be able to play).